Killer CTA copies for killer conversion

Tips on writing CTAs that convert well

Killer CTA copies for killer conversion

The CTA button performs a small but powerful role of promoting the user's certain behavior and making the user participate. CTA buttons, whether on  websites, apps, or emails, plays a crucial role in prompting key actions for your business.For the CTA button to do its job, the first thing that needs to be done is that the users must be willing to ‘Click’ the button. Today, we will tell you in detail about the CTA copywriting strategy that can move users with simple but clear phrases.


The basic concept of CTA

CTA, an abbreviation of “Call to Action”, is an element or phrase to promote a user’s certain behavior. Usually, CTA is used to improve conversion rates such as subscription or sign up, or to induce purchases. It is also designed to promote SNS sharing so that the relationship between users and brand can be improved. Others often use CTA to promote various actions such as maintaining retention or collecting leads and feedback.

To achieve all these purposes, it is most important to make people want to click your CTA. If no one clicks the CTA, the CTA is useless despite all the resources spent to create it.


How to improve CTA button click rates

Then what can you do to improve the CTA button click rate? You can promote clicks by adding fun elements with gamification factors or increasing visibility by changing the design everytime it is clicked. However, such efforts can be inefficient as a lot of development and design resources are used to make those efforts.Therefore, you need to be cautious of approaching the CTA button click rate only from the perspective of design.

Instead, you can improve the click rates by well-designing the CTA button phrase. An easy and simple yet most effective method. As the saying goes, “One sentence can overcome a thousand languages”, copywriting alone can make users click.


CTA Button copywriting strategy

1️⃣ Phrase as if you were talking a customer

It is best if the CTA button can give the impression that it is directly talking to a customer. Customers become curious when they feel a personal connection with the brand. In a similar context, phrasing the CTA button in a formal and stiff manner can cause psychological distance. Thus, it is more effective to phrase the CTA button in a soft tone and manner, as if the CTA button is having a conversion with the customer. 

2️⃣ Insert action words

As CTA is an abbreviation for ‘Call of Action’, it must give users a clear call to action. Instruct the users to perform the desired actions by using detailed verbs such as ‘Start Now’, ‘Sign Up Now’, or ‘Learn More’. Clear expressions like these help users expect what will happen after clicking the CTA button, thus leading to more immediate responses.

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However, phrases like ‘Agree to Receive ‘ or ‘Set Up Notifications’ can be difficult to improve click rates despite using clear action words in the phrase. Users who have negative experiences from spam mails or unnecessary notifications can feel aversion to such phrases. Even for users that don’t feel aversion, the phrases alone may seem to lack the value proposition of why notification settings are important and what the benefits are. Thus, it is better to use phrases with indirect meanings, such as ‘Get the Latest News’ or ‘Don’t miss out on Special Offers.’

3️⃣ Express the value that a clicked user can receive

You should try explicitly expressing the value a user will receive by clicking the CTA button to highlight the user’s benefit. If I receive nothing when clicking the CTA button, there’s no reason to do so. Therefore, it’s a good idea to clearly convey the value a user will receive when clicking the button by highlighting benefits such as ‘Free Use’ or ‘Get Special Discounts’.

4️⃣ Stimulate FOMO

FOMO(Fear of Missing out) is people’s desire to not miss out on special experiences or opportunities. We can write the CTA button phrases in a way to promote certain actions by stimulating this desire. Try creating tension so that users don’t miss opportunities by using expressions such as ‘Limited Edition Opportunity’, ‘Special Offer Just for Today’, or ‘Don’t Miss Out’. As people have the tendency to quickly make decisions and act for limited opportunities or special benefits, this copy strategy may best suit you if you are planning for a marketing campaign that will run for a limited time period. 

5️⃣ Use the Social Proof psychology

Social proof is a psychological tendency that people want to follow the actions or opinions of many other people; either consciously or unconsciously. Even if a person is not originally interested in a specific product or brand, that person can be naturally attracted towards the product or brand when the person finds out it is being used by many people. And this psychology can be incorporated in the copy. Try phrases that use psychological triggers like ‘Learn about Products used by 100,000 people’ or ‘Be the 300th Person to Enter’ and amplify your click rates.

6️⃣ Emphasize that the user is making a reasonable choice

Most of the customers try to consume reasonably. So communicate why your offer is more reasonable than other alternatives by highlighting your differences from the competitors in the CTA button copy. If you can deliver the message that choosing your brand is the most wise choice either from the price perspective or quality perspective, you can stimulate the user’s desire to click and highlight your brand’s value at the same time.

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In these days when consumer sentiment is somewhat weakened, common copies about ‘discount’ can rather increase user fatigue. If you want to incorporate the reasonability in terms of price in your CTA button phrase, try using wording like ‘Save’ instead of ‘Discount’. This can stimulate consumer’s desire to click and clearly show the value the consumer will get when selecting your brand.



Things to be cautious about when writing a CTA Button copy

🔴Excessive use of memes or buzzwords

Excessive use of memes or buzzwords can negatively impact the CTA button click. Of course, using new and fun buzzwords appropriately is okay. But excessive use can make the CTA button copy lose its sincerity. Some users even don’t recognize the copy is actually a meme or buzzword. Furthermore, because memes or buzzwords are likely to be used in other places as well, the words can actually give fatigues more than curiosity. Therefore, it is important to use words that every user can easily understand and sympathize with in CTA buttons.

🔴Wordy copies 

If the wording on your CTA button is too long, it can’t grab the user’s attention right away. It also makes it difficult for the user to understand what they can expect. Long phrases are especially harmful on mobiles because the screen is smaller, and it can make the UI feel too crowded. It is important to write your CTA copies with straightforward and concise expressions rather than long sentences that take time to read and understand.


A CTA button that promotes core ‘actions’ after a long explanation is very important to your business. However, don’t forget that for the button to do its job, you need a copy that can move users’ minds. Just one well-written phrase is enough to make users click the CTA button.

We hope you can successfully achieve your KPI by referring to the CTA button copy writing strategy in this article.


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